Politics

Kalsoom avoided herself to involved in the national politics working for the advancement of women in Pakistan[further explanation needed]. During the years that her husband, Nawaz Sharif, twice became the prime minister or even led the opposition against the then arch-rival Benazir Bhutto, Kalsoom avoided getting involved in politics herself.

However, this was changed when Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Pervez Musharraf led a military coup d'état against her husband on 12 October 1999. Kalsoom was arrested by female member of Pakistan Army Corps of Military Police and immediately shifted to her local resident unlike her husband who was taken to Adiala Jail. Kalsoom, unlike most parties, bluntly called Musharraf an usurper[according to whom?]. Sharif named Kalsoom as the President of Pakistan Muslim League in 1999. Her outspoken criticism of the military authorities resulted in angry attacks from the government and alienated some sections of the Pakistan Muslim League. For instance, she once complained that many elements in the PML have not supported her, but rather opted for a policy of non-confrontation with the army. For months before the exile of Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia, Kalsoom built a momentum for political activity. It paid off in the form of putting an end to the agony of her husband in jail.[citation needed]